ABSTRACT
Though Republican candidates in California fared poorly in 1962, the party made a modest improvement on the drubbing it took four years earlier. Disappointed in Nixon's loss, Modem Republicans found some consolation in Kuchel's victory and in the defeat of both the Francis Amendment and the two avowed JBS members seeking reelection to Congress. Conservatives, many of whom supported Kuchel, though usually without enthusiasm, could take satisfaction in the reelection of Secretary of State Frank Jordan (who had survived in 1958 as well) and especially in the triumph of Dr. Max Rafferty, a combative "back-to-the-basics" right-wing educator who won the ostensibly nonpartisan race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Most importantly, fervid conservatives who opposed Nixon or voted for him reluctantly could take stock in Shell's strong showing in the primary and in Rafferty's victory as portents of a burgeoning crusade.
